Jane's Dream
by Pullmanlover
Summary: Will goes to Cornwall to visit the gang after 4 years of separation, and some interesting things happen....
1. Jane's Dream

What dim light there was came from a mass of yellow-grey clouds that hung in the sky, and everything about the world was evil. Jane stood on a hill, by a tree, holding a funny circle with a cross in it that suddenly felt very important. Around her lay her friends, Bran, Simon, Barney, and Will, all gasping and choking and crying out. It was up to her. But she couldn't do it. Not when she Will, suddenly out of pain, glassy-eyed and still.  
Jane screamed and sat up in bed, crying and trembling and terrified. She was in bed. Everything was safe. But....where was Will? She couldn't know now. Still shaking, she lay back down; but she didn't sleep that night.  
*******************************************************  
Will shuffled groggily into the kitchen to find his mother looking very excited. "You'll never guess!" she said. "Your old friends from that week in Wales have invited to stay for the spring holidays! Isn't that wonderful?" Will stopped in mid-shuffle. It had been three years since those days in Wales, and he longed to see his old friends again; maybe they could explain the strange dreams he'd been having, and the sense that he'd left something of himself back in the hills of Wales. But now that it was happening......suddenly, Will was nervous.  
******************************************************  
Two days later, they were on their way. When they arrived in Cornwall, their agreed vacation spot, Jane was the first to meet him, with her brothers and Bran trailing behind. He raised a hand in greeting, but before he could say anything, Jane had thrown herself onto him, crying, "Oh, Will! I was so worried! I had this dream...." She began to sob into his shoulder.  
Will felt very foolish as he gently detached her arms. "Tell me about it." She looked around. "Could you come outside with me?" Simon stepped forward. "Here-" "No," said Will, not looking away from her anxious face, "I think she's right." Simon stepped forward again, but there was an authority in Will's voice that made him stop. He and his brother and Bran watched helplessly as Jane led Will away.  
She led him out to the darkening garden, a little calmer now she'd seen him, and told him about her dream. "Somehow I thought it might have been real; it seemed so real, and I was so frightened...." She trailed off, embarrassed. Will was astonished. He'd been having dreams very similar to hers himself.  
  
"Have you told the others?" "No. I—I didn't want—I didn't want them to know." She blushed a deep red and looked down. "Oh. Why-" Will's throat was constricted. He swallowed and tried again. "Why didn't you want them to know?" She looked up, her dark blonde hair falling back in place behind her ears. Will suddenly felt very hot in the cool spring night. She said, "Because-" She stopped, and threw her chin up, blue eyes staring into his brown ones. Will was suddenly very aware of the deep shade of blue her eyes were. He'd never really noticed before. "Because I like you."  
The whole world shattered into a million pieces, and came back together completely different. Will looked away, confused and embarrassed, and then looked back at her sad little face.  
Neither of them was ever sure who moved first, but in an instant they were kissing, hardly realizing what was happening, who they were, where they were; nothing existed but each other. "Jane?!" came an alarmed and horribly familiar voice. They pulled apart and swung round, hands together. There stood Simon, Barney, and Bran, staring at them in utter astonishment. 


	2. In Shock

A/N: I think I might have screwed up some information in the last chapter of this. If I did, please tell me. ********** It was several seconds before any of them moved. The first thing Will noticed was Bran's face: shocked, hurt, and, most surprising, a little jealous.  
Fortunately, the others were too horrified to notice. Fortunately, thought Will. Why fortunately? Simon was the first to speak. "How long has this been going on, then?" he said coolly, directing the question at Will. Jane started to answer, but Simon said venomously, "I asked him, not you, Jane." He looked back at Will. "Well?" Will swallowed. "Only just now, honestly. It was just....." He shrugged unhappily, looking over at Jane with an air of desperation. He really didn't want to be on Simon's bad side; they'd been friends for too long. Simon looked at Jane, as if for confirmation. "It's true, really it is, and, oh, don't be mad at us, we....we hardly.....we didn't even know..." "Didn't know what you were doing? How many times d'you think I've heard that excuse? Come off it, Jane, you and Will both knew perfectly well what you were doing. You are thirteen." Jane flushed. "Just because you're older than me doesn't make me a little girl, you know. You're right, I am thirteen, I can make my own choices. You had a girlfriend when you were thirteen. What's so different about me?" Simon looked down. What Jane said was true, but......she was so young. "All right, you're not a little girl, but I'm still your older brother, and I think you're making a mistake." "Oh, you think? Why should I care what you think? Ten minutes ago you were friends with Will, but now that I like him you suddenly disapprove? You think you're helping me, but you're nothing but an overprotective bastard who doesn't know how to keep his nose out of other people's business. Leave us alone!" Simon was stunned. Jane was usually shy and quiet. She'd never spoken to him like that before. Barney cleared his throat loudly. "Can we go inside now? It's getting jolly cold out here." Will nodded numbly, and Simon grunted, and Bran just turned around and walked back inside, shoulders hunched in a defeated sort of way. They trailed back inside, Jane clutching Will's hand as if for dear life, Simon looking at them suspiciously, and Will looking at Bran yet more suspiciously. Then Will chided himself. Bran was his best friend; even if Will had guessed right, Bran would never try to take Jane from him; you could see that from the defeated look in his eyes.  
Then, just as they reached the warmth and light of the indoors, Will and Jane both remembered at almost the same time why they had been outside in the first place. 


	3. Searching for Explanations

As the five children trailed into the light and warmth of the kitchen, Will signaled to the others to head upstairs, hoping they would understand and obey, because he wanted to talk to them, and he couldn't in front of his mother and Mrs. Penhallow, who were cooking and talking merrily in the kitchen.  
  
Fortunately, even Simon obliged, if grumpily, and when they had all congregated in the boys' bedroom, Will looked around solemnly, sincerely hoping that they'd believe what he was about to tell them.  
  
He took a deep breath, looked at Jane for reassurance, and said, "All right. I know you're not very pleased with me at the moment, and I understand that, but we need to talk, and it's not about what just happened out in the garden. It's about something that's been happening to me, and to Jane, for a couple of years now, and it's why Jane wanted to talk to me in the first place. I've got an idea that it has something to do with all of us, and if I'm right, it's been happening to you, too. Here it is: For the past couple of years, I've been having these weird dreams, and they're all about the same thing: a tree on a hill, with just one blossom, and a sort of a war, and these weird circle things with crosses in them, and they're the most important part of the dream. The reason I think you're involved is because you're in them. And so is an old man, who isn't really old at all, if that makes any sense."  
  
Will took another deep breath, and then realized he didn't know what to say next. So he looked around at the others, to see their reactions. His words seemed to have caused a complete change in atmosphere. They were all looking at him astonishment, and Barney's was mixed in with a little bit of fear.  
  
Once again, Simon took it upon himself to speak first. "Well....it looks to me like we've all been having weird dreams. What d'you suppose they mean?"  
  
"I think," said Jane quietly, "that this has something to do with it." And she pulled from her pocket a little round greenish-blue stone.  
  
Bran gave an involuntary half-choke-half-gasp and everyone looked at him. "That's mine. I gave it to you on the hill in Wales that day, 4 years ago. And...it was right beside a tree with only one blossom."  
  
Short, I know, but I'm running out of ideas.  
  
Sweden's Pride, I've got an answer to your last review (you know, the one where you answered my question about the end of the book): I'm not at all sure that's true. I just reread the end of the book, and Cooper doesn't make it clear whether they all forgot, or if Will remembered everything. I think she wanted it to be a matter of opinion. It's just that most people seem to think Will remembered everything. I don't happen to be one of those people. Thanks for the answer, but I think I'll go with my own take on things for now. 


End file.
